Educational toy adding machine

ABSTRACT

An educational toy adding machine having a plurality of rotatable discs with indicia on one face thereof viewable through windows in the housing of the machine. Driver discs coaxially mounted and rotatable with the viewed discs have pins extending outwardly from the face thereof. A driving spindle is biased upwardly above the pins on the driven discs. A large key extends through said housing and contacts the upper end of the spindle. The upper surface of the spindle in inclined so that depression of the key moves the spindle downwardly and laterally so as to contact said pins.

United States Patent Langieri, Jr. et al;

[$4] EDUCATIONAL TOY ADDING MACHINE [721 Inventors: Michael Langierl, Jr., Butler, N.J.; Lennox Watts, Bronx, NX.

[73] Assignee: Questor Corporation, Toledo, Ohio [22] Filed: Jan. 31, 1972 [211 Appl. No.: 221,936

[52] iu'.s.ci. ass/14, 235/114 [51] Int. Cl. ..G06'c27/00 5s FieldotSearch ..23s/74,114,7s 12,113;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS, 1,283,959 11/1918 Surber .Q "235/7511 3,312,395 4/1967 Nara ..235/114 Primary Examiner-ste m- 1. Tomsky Attorney-Donald R. Bahr v [57] ABSTRACT Aneducational toy adding machine having a plurality v of rotatable discs with indicia on one face thereof viewable through windows in the housing of the machine. Driver discs coaxially mounted and rotatable with the viewed discs have pins extending outwardly from the face thereof. A driving spindle is biased upwardly above the pins on the driven discs. A large key extends through said housing and contacts the upper end of the spindle. The upper surface of the spindle in inclined so that depression of the key moves the spindle downwardly and laterally so as to contact said pins.

sediment-ma am PATENTED m: 1 1912 saw 3 [IF 3 FIG. 63

FIG. 6A.

- This application relates generally to adding machines and more specifically to an educational toy adding machine for use by very young people.

Adding machines and the mechanisms used therefor are well known and have been used for many applications. However, the adding machines which are on the market today cannot be used by small children. This is :size of the mechanical operating equipment.

lltfis a further object of this invention to provide a childs educational adding machine which has a simple mechanism which may be economically produced for thepurposes intended. I

These and other objects of the invention willbecome apparent from. the following description when taken in conjunction with the drawings wherein *FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the exterior housing for a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. .2 is a partialsectional view taken through the lines 2-2 of FIG. 1;

- FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the lines 3-3 .of'FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a partial sectional view of the basic operating mechanism of the present invention;

FIG. 5 isan exploded view of the means for connecting the basic parts'of the mechanism of the present invention;

FIGS. 6A and 6B are plan views illustrative of the mechanism as it moves the wheelsof the adding 7 machine; and t FIG. '7 is a partial view'illustrating'the operation of the actuatorshaft.

Broadly speaking, the present invention comprises anadding machine having a plurality of discs representative of the 'units, tens, hundreds, etc; as desired for the size of the machine. Each disc has a fixed number such as units, tens and hundreds on one face thereof, which numbers are visible from the housing enclosing the discs. Associated drive discs are provided with a se- .therefrom and is biased in a direction away from the first set'of pins. The spindle terminates in its upper end in a head having an inclined face. The inclined face rests within .a large rectangularIhousing-openat the bottom thereof which constitutes the button or key for actuating the mechanism itself. When the button is depressed, the spindle is driven downwardly against the bias of the spring-and istilted toward the drive disc and the pins by means of a camming action of the key against the inclined .face of the button. The unit wheel has a finger which, when the wheel has progressed through ten steps, contacts the second set .of pins on the second wheel so as to move it one-tenth o'f'its rotation. The second wheel has the same finger which co-acts with the third wheel and so on if more than three wheels are used.

' Turning now more specifically .to the drawings, there is shown a basic addingmachine ll which includes a housing 13 and a rotatable handle ,15 mounted on the housing in a well-known manner. l-Iou sin g 13 has a front panel 17 which contains three windows 19, 2'1 and 23. At the top of the machine are three buttons or keys25, 27 and 29 which are depressable so as to actuate the mechanism in a manner which will be explained in conjunction with the other drawings.

FIG. 2 is a partial sectional rear view .of the innerpart of the device of FIG. 1. It will be seen that the key 25 co-acts with the actuating spindle 31. It .is to be noted that each of the keys have an associated spindle. However, since they each operate in the same manner-only one is-shown for purposes of clarity.

Below each key are large circular discs 33, 35 and 37. These'discs have indicia such as 1 through 9 for the units, 10 through 99 for the seconddisc, etc. printed on the front face as indicated in FIG. '1 so that the indicias appear in the windows 19, 21 and 23.

Discs 33, 35 and 37 are mounted EfOl' rotation about axles 39, 41 and43. At a spaced-distance from the large discs there are mounted on the axles smaller discs 45,,

47 and 49 respectively. The spacing between thediscs is-moreclearly shown inFIG. 3.

On the backside of each disc isaseries of ten pins 51,, 53 and 55 while on the interior face of each of the second and third discs-are a further set of ten pins '53 and 56. It will also be noted that on the first and second discsthere are fingers 58 and 60 respectively.

Fingers 58 and 60 are integral with "their respective discs and actuate the associated adjoining'discs through the series of pins 54 and 56. Thus,ifor each fall rotation channel 60' for each of the actuating spindles 69. As

can'be seen, the channel 60' is wider than the actual dimension of the shaft 69of the actuating spindle 32.

The shaft 69(FIG. 4) terminates in its lower end ima flat bearing surface and terminates in its upper end in-a head 73 havingan inclined surface 75.

As the key 27 isdepressed in the direction shown by the arrow, the pressure overcomes the bias of circular spring 77 so as to force the actuating spindle downwardly. At the same time due to a camming action, the downward pressure on the key 27 forces the head 73 to tilt due to configuration of the inclined 75. This tilting action moves the lower face 71 of the actuating spindle in a counterclockwise direction as it is being pushed downwardly so that it will contact the pin 53 and rotate the disc one-tenth of its total rotation.

be integral with wall 59. Abutment 85, which may also be-integral with wall 59, limits the movement ofthe spring 81.

Referring to FIGS. 6a and 6b, the terminal end of spring 81 is formed-in a V-shape 82 which normally fits between adjacent pins 51. It is held in this position by means of abutment 85. As spindle 69 is driven downwardly, the movement of pins 51 bend the spring so as to allow. a pin to pass over the V-shape 82 and, thus, advance the wheel one-tenth of the full rotation. Stop 87 is provided so as to limit the downward move- 7 ment of spindle 69.

The primary purpose of the rotational movement of the spindle as shown in FIG. 7 is to assure that the spindle, upon release, will move away from the pins so as to avoid any possible counter-rotational force.

The present invention provides a simple and inexpensive educational toy. Further, due to the mechanism which allows for the use of large keys, very young children can easily operate the device.

The above description and accompanying drawings are illustrative only and the invention is to be limited only by the scope of the following claims.

We claim:

1. Aneducational toy adding machine comprising a housing,

' a plurality of viewing windows in said housing,

' a plurality of rotatable discs within said housing equal in number to said windows, said discs having indicia thereon and readable through said windows,

a driving disc nounted coaxially with said rotatable discs,

each of said driving discs having a plurality of pins extending outwardly from one face thereof, said pins being incrementally spaced soas to form a circle, I an actuating spindle extending upwardlyand outwardly from said housing above said pins of each of said driving discs, I spring means for biasing said spindles away from said pins,

a depressable hollow key member extending from said housing at the upper end, of said actuating spindles wherebydepression of said keys move said spindles so as to overcome said bias and contact said pins, and l resilient means mounted within said housing for maintaining said disc in a fixed position, said 1 resilient means being overidden when said spindle contacts said pins.

2. The machine of claim 1 further comprising means secured to and rotable with said discs whereby one full rotation of one disc moves the adjacent disc one-tenth of a full rotation.

3. The machine of claim 2 wherein said means secured to said discs comprises,

fi mo nt d o aid f e of said one disc, and pir riz tlity of pins exterf mg outwardly from the other face of said adjacent disc, said finger contacting one of said pins on said other face during each full rotation of said one disc.

4. The machine of claim 1 further comprising a channel enclosing each of said actuating spindles, said channel being of a greater dimension than said spindles,

a head at the upper end of each spindle, said head having an inclined upper surface whereby depression of said key moves the lower end of said spindle laterally against the bias of said spring and toward said pins, and release of said key allows said spring to move said lower end of said spindle laterally away from said pins.

I i i t l060ll 0536 

1. An educational toy adding machine comprising a housing, a plurality of viewing windows in said housing, a plurality of rotatable discs within said housing equal in number to said windows, said discs having indicia thereon and readable through said windows, a driving disc nounted coaxially with said rotatable discs, each of said driving discs having a plurality of pins extending outwardly from one face thereof, said pins being incrementally spaced so as to form a circle, an actuating spindle extending upwardly and outwardly from said housing above said pins of each of said driving discs, spring means for biasing said spindles away from said pins, a depressable hollow key member extending from said housing at the upper end of said actuating spindles whereby depression of said keys move said spindles so as to overcome said bias and contact said pins, and resilient means mounted within said housing for maintaining said disc in a fixed position, said resilient means being overidden when said spindle contacts said pins.
 2. The machine of claim 1 further comprising means secured to and rotable with said discs whereby one full rotation of one disc moves the adjacent disc one-tenth of a full rotation.
 3. The machine of claim 2 wherein said means secured to said discs comprises, a finger mounted on said face of said one disc, and a plurality of pins extending outwardly from the other face of said adjacent disc, said finger contacting one of said pins on said other face during each full rotation of said one disc.
 4. The machine of claim 1 further comprising a channel enclosing each of said actuating spindles, said channel being of a greater dimension than said spindles, a head at the upper end of each spindle, said head having an inclined upper surface whereby depression of said key moves the lower end of said spindle laterally against the bias of said spring and toward said pins, and release of said key allows said spring to move said lower end of said spindle laterally away from said pins. 